


As I Lie Among the Flowers

by catboyronster



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Character Death, M/M, Minor Ashe Ubert/Felix Hugo Fraldarius, minor depictions of blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:47:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25395607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catboyronster/pseuds/catboyronster
Summary: The war in Fodlan has ended, and Edelgard's reign begins. Felix has been assigned to hunt down the traitors to the Empire, and he will do it, regardless of the cost.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17





	As I Lie Among the Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by some tweet that said Jeritza and Hubert swear to hunt each other for sport or something. So [Purple](https://archiveofourown.org/users/purple_bookcover) and I cooked up this au. 
> 
> You can find the companion fic to this one [here!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25116619)
> 
> Thank you TsarAlek for helping me when I was stuck and Beta'ing

Cold wind sliced through the air, burning the skin on his freckled face. With his back against a tree, he tried to calm his breathing. Above him, the trees seemed to murmur amongst themselves and Ashe shivered, but not from the cold. 

It wasn’t the first time that Edelgard had sent someone after him. He recalled their faces; the men and women that desperately tried to hunt him down...and failed. His stomach churned at the thought. Another one? How many more would Edelgard sacrifice just for him? 

He peered behind the tree, scanning the familiar area around him. Barely-there leaves and buds were already forming in the trees, encouraged by the beginning of spring. 

Spring. Ashe shook his head in disbelief. Already a year since the war ended, and he was still on the run. He thought of the others; were they also going through this as well? 

A rustle caught his attention. They were close. He sighed, weary, not wanting another fight, and took off into another sprint. Whoever they were, Ashe could probably outrun them.

◇

Evening rays filtered through the trees, casting heavy shadows onto the ground. It was getting colder. Ashe panted heavily, and he could see his breath at every exhale. Night was falling, but he would not dare light a fire or rest at an inn; he knew he was being followed and did not want to be idle for any longer than he needed to. But as the sky grew darker, and he more weary, he found himself climbing a tree and settling down on a thick branch with an arrow notched and ready at a moment's notice. 

The sky was dark, and the moon barely illuminated the night. The shadows of the trees played tricks on him throughout the night as every rustle, every shake, every  _ noise _ , kept Ashe from fully relaxing. He had no idea who and what he was up against. 

He must have dozed off at some point, because the next thing he knew, he was covered in a thin layer of snow and frost and the sky was a soft shade of pink and orange. It would have been a beautiful sight, if not for the fact that he was on the run again. 

Ashe gingerly shook off the snow from his body, and groaned at the ache from sleeping in a tree. He took in his surroundings, now that it was alight. The light blanket of snow and frost would be a problem once he took off again, but given the dark angry clouds that dotted the skies, leaving footsteps would soon be the least of his worries. 

◇

Although the fresh snow left footprints on the ground that made it easier to follow their target, weather was a fickle thing, causing the assassin to always keep their target in sight. The cursed trees made it difficult to follow silently and maneuver quickly, luckily enough for the silver-haired man. 

The mysterious figure was hesitant to attack; due to the dense thicket of trees, swords were useless in such close combat. Striking now was not an option, so they decided to wait. Wait for the perfect time to strike. They were not like the others, hard-headed, stubborn fools who refused to  _ think  _ about their mission. 

Even if it tore their heart in two. 

◇

The forest turned a dark melancholy as the clouds started to settle in. Familiarity and nostalgia tinted Ashe’s thoughts as he walked, taking in the sight of his old home. He strolled, willfully choosing to ignore the danger that followed him like a shadow, opting to reminisce instead. These were the woods he learned where to shoot under his older brother. The trees were branded and scarred with notches and nicks where he used to practice bow and sword techniques, pretending like he was another one of the territory’s soldiers. Ashe knew there was a clearing nearby, an open area where Ashe could shoot his arrow, where he could attack, unobstructed by trees. 

Emerging into the clearing, Ashe’s eyes swept the area around him. The grasses were long and untamed, since the territory had been abandoned for quite some time now, and small violets were beginning to emerge in tufts. The sight would have been beautiful, if it were not for the ruins of the old town that stood in the distance. 

Ashe notched an arrow into his bow and stood in the middle of the clearing, waiting for his would-be assassin. 

“I know you are there!” He yelled, his taunt echoing off the trees. “Show yourself!” 

Ashe held his breath. No matter how many times he had faced off against Edelgard’s assassins, his blood still thrummed with anticipation. He heard a twig snap from behind, and he whirled around, pulling an arrow taught to his face. His eyes and notched arrow were met with the empty scenery, and he cursed under his breath. 

Another crack of a twig sounded, and he shot the arrow at the direction of the noise. The arrow lodged itself into a tree with a satisfying thunk. He saw a flash of black, stark against the greenery, and notched another arrow, following the person’s movements and anticipating their next location. Ashe shot the arrow.

◇

An arrow wizzed past their shoulder. They barely had time to dodge it before another one came springing. Using a tree for cover, they unsheathed their sword. Emerging from the tree, they knocked two incoming arrows with a clang against their sword. 

The figure charged, sword in hand, ready to strike. They saw the man reach behind to notch a few arrows and aim it at them. But by the time that the target notched the arrows, the assassin had been able to duck from underneath their line of fire and knock them down from their feet with a weep of their foot. Arrows went flying into the forest. 

◇

Ashe fell to the ground, landing on his quiver of arrows. A soundless yelp formed in his mouth as the air flew out of his lungs. His bow got knocked out from his hand. The mysterious person regarded him for a moment, but Ashe couldn’t tell who it was from underneath the hood. 

They picked up his bow. In one swift movement, with both hands and their knee, they snapped the bow in half, Ashe winced at the sound. Anger surged within him. In one quick motion, Ashe hopped up onto his haunches and spun, delivering a low kick to his assassin, forcing them to drop the broken bow and their sword. 

Now on the ground, they scrambled for their sword that was off to the side and out of arm’s reach. Ashe lunged forward, unsheathing the knives that he kept strapped to his leg. He tackled the assassin to the ground, and struggled as they attempted to escape his hold. Ashe struggled to wield his knife, trying to gain control of the situation and using all his weight to pin them to the ground. 

During the scuffle, the loose hood fell, revealing sharp features and even sharper amber eyes framed by dark tresses that had fallen into their face. 

“Felix,” Ashe breathed when he finally recognized the man underneath him. Taking advantage of the moment of surprise, Felix bucked, knocking Ashe off of him. He then rolled to the side, meeting his sword, and rose to his feet. 

Felix sauntered over to Ashe, now on the ground still reeling from the fact that his mysterious person following him turned out to be a man he thought was dead. Felix pointed the tip of his blade to Ashe’s throat. Emerald met amber, and for a moment, everything stopped. 

◇

_ Felix.  _

Now that the hood was down from their recent struggle, Ashe could finally get an eyeful of his former classmate. Messy, inky-black strands of hair fell forward into his face, free from the confines of the equally messy bun. Blazing amber eyes peered down at him, pinning him down along with the sword at Ashe’s throat. 

Ashe swore the goddess was laughing. His face was incredulous.  _ Oh, the irony.  _ The man that he searched for and found nothing,  _ found him _ , and was here to kill him. First Cristophe. Then Lonato. His siblings were nowhere to be found, probably long dead. And now Felix. 

He felt something inside of him snap, his last shred of sanity that held him together. A giggle bubbled up from inside of him. A light sound that betrayed the darkness that welled inside of him. His giggle turned to multiple, and that multiple turned into full blown laugher. 

Ashe felt a surge of delight electrifying his body, making him feel more alive than ever. He cracked a smile. If Edelgard- no,  _ if Felix- _ wanted his life, then so be it. 

◇

Felix stared down at the man on the other side of his sword. The years had worn into him, in the form of hollow cheeks and haggard, haunted eyes with wild silver hair haphazardly falling into his face. He felt a pang in his chest at the sight, a sliver of hurt that ghosted through him, even through the layers of armor that protected his heart all this time. 

Felix shoved away the hurt, the longing. He tucked it into the part of him that he swore would never see the light of day again. He thought he had an iron lock on his heart, but looking at Ashe, ever the thief, he felt the locks fall away as if they were nothing. He grimaced. 

The sound that escaped from Ashe was, to say the least, jarring. The beautiful twinkle of his voice startled Felix, who ogled in horror at the wild, almost feral darkness that lurked in those green eyes. Felix took a step back, the sword in his hand shaking as Ashe broke out into a fit of laughter. 

“ _ Oh, Felix _ ,” Ashe purred, using his index finger to divert the shaking blade away from his face. The deranged look in his eyes coupled with a flash of teeth sent Felix reeling as he got up. 

◇

“You are here to kill me, aren’t you?” Ashe sneered, reaching for the knives strapped to his thigh. Felix didn’t answer,  _ couldn’t _ answer, too lost in the poisonous look in Ashe’s eyes. Thrill raced up his spine; his smile widened into a grin. 

Ashe lunged at Felix, who had barely any time to register before he felt the reverberating of his blade against Ashe's knives. He wasn't particularly strong, and the initial shock that gave him the attack advantage quickly wore out. 

The forest seemed to hold its breath while they fought. Ashe's nimble movements versus Felix's grace and stability. However, there was something off; his movements were just as sure as when they had fought earlier, but there was an air of frenzy around him. 

Felix did not know how to counter Ashe: this Ashe was sharp and unsightly, wild and frantic, teetering on the line between madness and sanity. He hacked and slashed. His attacks fell on Felix in quick succession, trying to out maneuver his opponent, trying to use Felix’s limited movement to his advantage. 

Felix tried his best to keep Ashe at a distance, knowing full well that he would be done for the moment Ashe came within arm’s reach. 

Their dance quickly changed when a hard clash snapped the knife in Ashe’s left hand. He snarled and threw it off to the side. Ashe jumped back, out of reach, before Felix could take advantage of the loss of one of his weapons. 

A determined look manifested in Felix’s eye. He charged at the younger man, sword poised in position for a lunge. Ashe caught the blade with the base of his knife, smirking. As if Ashe would fall for that attack, as if he wasn’t overly familiar with Felix’s attacks from their days sparring together. 

Ashe used the momentum of Felix’s sword to swing it in a wide arc while twisting his wrist. With a yelp of surprise, Felix’s sword dropped to the ground. A moment later, the knife was at Felix’s throat. Felix scrambled backwards, trying to escape as Ashe pressed the blade further into him. 

Felix slammed into a tree, knocking the breath out of his lungs. The blade continued to bite at the soft skin. Felix took in shaky breaths while a line of red started to form and flow down, staining the silver blade. The snarl in Ashe’s face faded away as the mad adrenaline left his body.

Clarity returned to the silver-haired man, whose eyes widened at the horror before him. He brought his hands face in surprise, dropping the bloody knife, and took a step back. His knees gave out from underneath him, and he dropped to his knees, choking a sob. With a hand on his neck, Felix also slumped to the ground, energy depleted as he took ragged breaths. 

“I…,” Ashe took shaky breath, “...I’m sorry…” Ashe began to shake. Full body sobs shook his body as he began to babble nonsense about his brother, about his siblings, about lonato, about the war. 

Lost in his despair, he barely registered when Felix crawled toward him and cradled him to his chest. He barely registered when Felix brought a hand to his cheek, warm and wet with tears. He was lost to the world, until Felix gingerly brushed his lips against his own. 

Felix kissed Ashe tenderly, cradling his face with a bloody hand, as if Ashe would shatter at any moment. The kiss was gentle, a stark contrast to the grave situation. It was full of unspoken words and years of longing that neither man could afford to express. With their eyes closed, it was easy to lose themselves in their feelings. It was easy to lose themselves in the sweet daydream. Ashe opened his eyes and broke the kiss. New tears pricked in Ashe’s eyes as reality crashed into him. 

“Felix,” Ashe sighed. “Please kill me.” Felix inhaled sharply at the request. Ashe handed the knife to him, the blood now dried, obscuring the brilliant silver of the blade. “You came here to kill me, didn’t you?” 

“Ashe, I-” Felix choked out. 

“Shh. It’s okay.” Ashe’s watery eyes twinkled as he looked up at Felix. “I’m glad it’s you.” 

◇

Felix gripped at the knife in his hand. He refused to break eye contact, as if the spell over him would vanish once he looked away. He flipped the knife in his hand so that he was clutching it in his fist, blade downward. 

He took one last gaze into deep pools of emerald for any sign of remorse. He never found any. All he saw was clarity in Ashe's eyes, a quiet melancholy that mirrored his own. 

“Please,” Ashe pleaded. 

Felix closed his eyes and steeled himself with a shaky exhale. 

◇

_ Ah, so this is how it ends,  _ Ashe thought eyes blank and staring into the now cloudy sky. In the clearing, where he shot his first arrow; where he spent time weaving flowers with his younger siblings; where he got his first bow from Christophe; where he was found by Lonato, clutching the book he stole. 

In the clearing, where Felix Hugo Fraldarius pierces a knife through his heart. 

◇

Felix froze. It was as if he refused to move. He froze as if maybe...Maybe if he didn’t move, time would pass them by, and spare them from the cruel hand that fate dealt them. Spare them from the inevitable. But time wasn’t kind. Nor was fate. 

“Thank you,” Ashe breathed, he planted the ghost of a kiss on Felix’s lips, merely an echo of the one they shared just moments ago. 

Felix felt the hand that was caressing his cheek fall limp, shaking him out of his trance. He looked down to see Ashe’s once bright green eyes, now glassy, meet his amber-colored gaze. As their eyes locked, Ashe gave him a final goodbye, in the form of a weak smile, just like he used to all those years ago, as he closed his eyes for a final time. 

Felix broke. Everything came crashing down at him all at once. Grief and anguish swirled inside of him, twisting, eating at him alive, threatening to swallow him whole, to drown him alive, to suffocate him. It caught in his chest, his throat. It pricked hot, angry tears from his eyes clutching the lifeless body of the man he loved. 

Felix held onto Ashe through his tears.  _ I’m sorry. I’m sorry _ . Mentally, he went back to all the chances and opportunities that he missed; the unspoken words at the Monastery, the lingering touches that he ignored, the longing gazes from afar-he replayed them all and apologized for each and every one of them. 

He remembered the last time they saw each other. The Monastery was on fire. Chaos was brewing. He remembered Ashe at that moment, with quiet smiles and even quieter optimism, even as Dimitri rampaged, even as Annette cried, even as everything ripped apart at the seams and burned down with the ashes of their childhood. 

Maybe he could have convinced Ashe to come with him to Fraldarius. Maybe then Ashe could have convinced him to stay. Stay with him and fight for their dying country. Maybe they could have run away together. Maybe things would have played out differently. Maybe. 

But at the end of the day, he didn’t. At the end of the day, it was he who had run away. It was he who abandoned his home. It was he who had to pay the price. At the end of the day, the last snow of spring fell over a lonely grave in Gaspard. 

**Author's Note:**

> baby's first angst... please let me know how how I did!!
> 
> you can find me on twitter at [catboynyanster](https://twitter.com/catboynyanster)
> 
> Go check out companion fic [here!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25116619)


End file.
